You are here

Justice News

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

District of Idaho

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Romanian National Sentenced For Immigration Fraud

BOISE – Lucian Ioan Belean, 30, a Romanian national, was sentenced today in United States District Court to two years of probation for making fraudulent statements in an application for immigration registration, a misdemeanor, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush also ordered Belean to pay a $1,000 fine and to voluntarily depart from the United States within 60 days. The defendant previously spent two months incarcerated pending his transfer to the District of Idaho.

According to the plea agreement, on November 2, 2007, Belean entered into a fraudulent marriage with a United States citizen for the sole purpose of obtaining immigration benefits. On December 23, 2007, he filed an application with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) seeking lawful permanent resident (LPR) status based on the fraudulent marriage. USCIS approved the application on March 14, 2008. According to the plea agreement, Belean would not have been granted LPR status had USCIS known of the fraudulent nature of the marriage.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).